Jury says Samsung, Apple both infringed on patents

Updated 9:13 pm, Friday, May 2, 2014

Samsung was ordered Friday to pay Apple nearly $120 million after a San Jose jury found the South Korean company guilty of copying key features of the iPhone in creating its smartphones.

The verdict was a far cry from the $2.2 billion Apple sought and the $930 million it won in a 2012 trial making similar patent-infringement claims against older Samsung products, most of which are no longer for sale in the United States. The jury even put a damper on this verdict by also finding that the Cupertino company had infringed on one of Samsung's patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5. The jury awarded Samsung $158,400, skimming that amount from the original $119.62 million verdict. Samsung had sought $6 million.

"It is hard to view this outcome as much of a victory for Apple," said Brian Love, a Santa Clara University law professor. "This amount is less than 10 percent of the amount Apple requested, and probably doesn't surpass by too much the amount Apple spent litigating this case."

More than 70 percent of smartphones run on Android, which Google has given out for free to Samsung and other phone makers

Both companies will now try to urge the judge to remove the other's products from store shelves in the United States. Love and other experts say that neither company is expected to succeed with those demands.

"Without a sales ban, this case is unlikely to move the needle on the larger battle between Apple and Android," Love said.

The verdict marked the latest intellectual property battle between the world's top two smartphone makers. Apple and Samsung have sued each other in courts and trade offices around the world.

The two companies are locked in a bitter struggle for dominance of the $330 billion worldwide smartphone market. Samsung has become the leader with a 31 percent share, up from just 5 percent in 2007. Apple has seen its market share slip to about 15 percent from a high of 27 percent three years ago.

The jury of eight people began deliberations Tuesday.

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